Live pricesGoldSilverPlatinumPalladium
Osiris Precious Metals Osiris, gold, silver, written in Egyptian hieroglyphs in a cartouche 𓁹𓊨𓀭𓋞𓋠𓏪 Wsjrnbwḥḏ(pl.) Osirisgoldsilverplural “Osiris: gold and silver” Osiris was ancient Egypt's god of the afterlife and rebirth and, in myth, its first king. As judge of the dead, he presided over the weighing of the heart, the source of our motto: weighed fairly.
Request a free estimateFree estimate

Guide

What is ruthenium, and what is it worth?

Ruthenium is a hard, silvery platinum-group metal that mostly goes into electronics. It's the most plentiful of the rare platinum-group metals and usually the least expensive.

Updated October 30, 2026

We pay more than pawn shops, jewelers, and mail-in gold kits: in Consumer Reports' tests, jewelers and pawn shops paid 36% to 71% of melt value, and mail-in kits 11% to about 29%. We pay 94% for scrap gold. Who pays the most?

What ruthenium is

Ruthenium has a density of about 12.36 grams per cubic centimeter, a little more than half of osmium's, and melts at about 2,334 °C. Karl Ernst Claus discovered it in 1844 at Kazan University, and named it after Ruthenia, the Latin name for Russia. Like the other platinum-group metals, it's recovered as a byproduct of platinum and nickel mining.

How rare it is

Ruthenium makes up about 100 parts per trillion of Earth's crust. Roughly 30 tonnes are mined a year, far more than osmium or iridium but a tiny amount next to gold or silver.

What it's used for

  • Electronics, its largest use: thick-film chip resistors, durable electrical contacts, and computer hard disks.
  • Catalysts for chemical production.
  • Electrodes for making chlorine and for protecting steel from corrosion.
  • Hardening platinum and palladium alloys.

What it's worth

Ruthenium is priced by refiners rather than on an exchange. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates its average price at about $690 a troy ounce in 2025, up from about $450 in 2024. Prices rose sharply in 2026. Johnson Matthey, one of the largest refiners, publishes a daily ruthenium base price. Physical ruthenium is sold mostly as small bars and powder, and it's thinly traded.

Selling ruthenium

We don't publish a ruthenium bid. If you have ruthenium bars, send photos and the weight and we'll quote them in writing.

This is general information from the sources below, not investment advice.

Sources

Platinum-group metals: All six · Osmium · Iridium · Rhodium · Platinum · Palladium